I’m really conflicted about this, because it is so very easy to see both sides of it. However, if you read through to the end, you will know what my final decision is.

On the one hand, the aliens are cultivating knowledge of other species, while at the same time providing the host bodies with health benefits and completely functional and peaceful systems in place in their planets that they were highly unlikely to have ever achieved on their own.
The souls are peaceful right down to their very natures – humans, by and large, may well think of themselves the same way, but to the souls, human beings are unbearably cruel and impulsively violent.
They are capable of terrible acts, which they inflict on themselves, their fellow human beings and their own environment (suicide, homicide, senseless murders, people killing their own children and families, wanton destruction of resources and the environment).

But can the same not then be said of the souls themselves? the way that the resisting humans view the souls is very different from how the souls see themselves, and I think that this shows us what the souls refuse to admit or acknowledge. their supposedly peaceful takeovers are done swiftly and with utmost secrecy, in a way which befits a cunningly controlled and executed operation. they take over a being so completely that they are not just powerless and shut away inside themselves, but they are completely erased.
this, to me, is worse than killing, in a way, because the memories and hopes and dreams that make up a person are STILL THERE, but they are disregarded and neglected because they are seen as brutish and savage. A human’s love for others is used to track people down and shut them away as well. how can something as beautiful as love be used as a weapon? It is beyond cruel. And this cruelty and calculation is present not only in the Earth’s takeover, but on other planets as well. the only similar case was that of the See Weeds, which resulted in mass suicide. The aliens’ desire for perfect, peaceful societies eliminated the things that make a society, things that make up life, and communities and individuals.

bodysnatcher wrote:...It made me think about Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, because in the book there is also a dystopian society, where everyone is living literally by every law of the Bible. They do this to get rid of the corruption in society at the time (extremists, lesbians, gays, feminists, etc.) However, the novel shows that there can never be a "perfect society" because humans will always be overcome by natural desires. Just like the humans in The Host, the "perfect society" is based on corruption. The Aliens are corrupt because they are literally STEALING and robbing humans of their lives, by exterminating their minds. That in itseld is killing.

The aliens may not have bad intentions, but they show that the world can not exist in a "perfect society". We need to have sorrow, dread, and loss to know what love, happiness, and passion is. There is no question. How else will we differentiate?

This is so true, and it is something that was completely ignored by the aliens who so valued human lives.
So my overall feeling is that the aliens in general were wrong, but the souls like Wanda and Burns and the parents who did not sacrifice their human child are the exception, because they embraced the true balance of life.

I think the moral of the story is you can't fix something that's meant to be a certain way, because it can't be fixed. As the book told us....it made things worse. Although their intentions were honorable Earth's problems were not their business and not theirs to fix. They should solve their own, like why they think it's okay to take life from a planet just to "fix" their problems. As we all find out for ourselves only the person who causes the problem is the one who can fix it. Besides taking a life and never leaving just shows a power struggle to me, unless there's some unknown plan that they had to leave after a certain amount of time.

I understand exactly what you mean, about how it wasn't theirs to fix... like I said before, I cannot make a blanket judgement, because there are exceptions, of course, but overall, I feel that the aliens were wrong. They forgot that Earth wasn't just a problem, and that their hosts were not just bodies to be put to better use.

I just made a rant about this today on the t(w)een thread. I'll copy and paste...

So, in honour of Vimy Ridge Day in Canada, and yesterday it being a year since Tori Stafford disappeared to be found in the middle of May as a body in the middle of a field, I wanted to say something.

You know how the humans figured out about the souls by the news being all happy, etc? Well, I've been thinking about that and about how kind and nice the souls are. The humans in The Host object to it majorly, but I don't get why. I mean, look at the news! Every week there's at least one story about a murder, and homicide, a big car crash where people died, someone stealing a major thing, whatever. What's so good about that? If something like the souls happened, I'd be glad. They'd make it peaceful, no more fighting, murders, crimes, wars. No more soldiers risking their lives over something stupid. They'd make it better for us to live in. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't take kindly to someone taking over my mind without me knowing, but the world Stephenie Meyer has in The Host sounds pretty darn good to me.

willowtree wrote:If something like the souls happened, I'd be glad... They'd make it better for us to live in.

I definitely agree with what you are saying in your post, but would you really be glad? You would, essentially, be dead so it wouldn't be "better" for us to live in. We would have no part in this world of the souls. Everything about you would be gone, only a shadow of you would remain - that being your body. And it wouldn't even be yours anymore. However, for the betterment of this world, what the souls do in The Host is a good thing. The humans, of course, don't think so and they would naturally rebel. It's called survival of the fittest, though.

A few more things to comment on, I can't find it but someone said you can't experience happiness, joy, etcetera without knowing pain, suffering, loss, and so on. The souls aren't like humans, though. Our greatest asset is also our greatest weakness, and that is emotion. Anger and fear and sadness are natural to us, wheras it is not for the souls. They could create a world of peace. We are killing this earth as it is and I think preserving the earth is more important than preserving just one species.

On another note, morally, were they wrong? Depends. In my opinion, morals are very subjective. If that's the case, then what they did was not wrong.

Given that they pretty much cured every disease on earth and can live as peacefully as they do, are the aliens really very wrong?

Well, I just remember reading the scene in the book where Wanda watches the Soul couple caring for their newborn and she sees that the baby is human. She believes the Souls will raise this baby as human and is touched by this.

This scene made my stomach hurt. Not only did the Souls force the humans they were occuping to have sex with each other (rape) they then kidnapped their biological child, who will never know it's real parents.

How could Aliens who do this kind of thing be right?

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. James 3:17

This is a difficult topic indeed. i like Wanda's kind, i really do. i wish (minus the killing billions of people part) that WE were more like them. no more sickness and pain, no more war. it would be a much better place.

the "aliens" had the right intentions, thats for sure. they just went about it in the wrong way. killing people is never the answer. they should have found a way to co-exist with the humans.

saying that, however, their kind DEPENDED on the life of others. thats just how they were made. they cant help that

Seeker-Mar wrote:This scene made my stomach hurt. Not only did the Souls force the humans they were occuping to have sex with each other (rape) they then kidnapped their biological child, who will never know it's real parents.

How could Aliens who do this kind of thing be right?

Well, the humans aren't exactly "there" anymore. Only their bodies remain, so it's not actually rape. And seeing as the bodies now belong to the souls, they are the biological parents. The "real" parents (ie the humans) don't exist anymore. You are looking at this in a very warped sense of light.

Seeker-Mar wrote:This scene made my stomach hurt. Not only did the Souls force the humans they were occuping to have sex with each other (rape) they then kidnapped their biological child, who will never know it's real parents.

How could Aliens who do this kind of thing be right?

Well, the humans aren't exactly "there" anymore. Only their bodies remain, so it's not actually rape. And seeing as the bodies now belong to the souls, they are the biological parents. The "real" parents (ie the humans) don't exist anymore. You are looking at this in a very warped sense of light.

i agree with that, you really are looking this in a twisted way.....i LOVED that scene it was sooooooooo sweet.